Camille Little has filled gap in the middle for Storm – Jayda Evans, Seattle Times

Storm coach Brian Agler knew Little was a gem. He helped developed her game while an assistant at San Antonio her rookie season.

“She sort of got lost in the shuffle, basically,” said Agler, who traded Seattle’s 2009 second-round draft pick to Atlanta for Little. “It wasn’t the right fit for her at that time.”

Why Lisa Leslie Picked the Storm to Win it All – Nate Parham, SBN Seattle

Beyond their trio of All-Stars three, part of what has made the Storm so difficult to play beat this season is their depth beyond those three. As Storm coach Brian Agler has noted, both the Storm and their WNBA Finals opponent Atlanta Dream are well aware that beyond the star players are other players to worry about. One player that has sort of flown under the radar for portions of this season is Storm forward Camille Little.

“I think Camille Little has improved her game so much and she just finds a way to get buckets,” said Leslie. “She’s not even on your radar and, boom, there you go: offensive board to Camille Little.”

Things Have ‘Changed a Lot’ Since Regular Season Series with Dream – Nate Parham, SBN Seattle

Although Agler said he considers their head-to-head meetings with the Dream as useful to look at these sort of matchups, he isn’t putting much stock in the outcomes.

“I think both teams have changed a lot since the very first meeting,” said Agler. “The meeting down there was sort of a strange game from the standpoint of they jumped on us quick and I think they got — when we subbed in — I think they got disinterested a little bit and didn’t play as well as they’re capable of playing. And we know they’re a much better team than what we saw down there in Atlanta.”

WNBA Finals matchup analysis: Dream and Storm share strengths, but the Storm has an edge – Q McCall, SwishAppeal.com

So what makes this series interesting is that both teams essentially share the same strength relative to their opponents: offensive rebounding percentage. However, as Agler has alluded to early in the season, what the Dream do so well is force turnovers and get out in transition for easy fast break points off of turnovers. As one observer said, there’s nothing complicated about the Dream’s transition game — it’s a mass of athleticism going right to the rim on the first attempt and crashing the boards for second and even third attempts.

How Brian Agler is Scouting the Dream – Q McCall, SwishAppeal.com

He’ll do something similar as he prepares for the Atlanta Dream in the WNBA Finals, this time using the Dream’s first round opponent as the case study.

“Washington a little bit — Washingon, they’re sort of like us in a lot of way,” said Agler. “So we’ll watch the playoff games.”

Not that the Mystics are at all as dominant as the Storm, but there was a bit of similarity in their regular season performance worth noting.

What are the odds of the Dream sweeping the Storm? – Petrel, SwishAppeal.com

The Massey Ratings webpage claims that home court advantage is 2.76 points.  But is the advantage at Key Arena equal to the one at Philips Arena?  Really? The great thing about the Massey Ratings web page is that it gives an individualized home court advantage for each team.  Seattle’s home court advantage is the best in the WNBA:  it is listed at 6.28 points.  (Connecticut is second with 5.71.)

As for Atlanta?  According to Massey Ratings, Atlanta has the worst home field advantage: one of -0.63.  All in all, Atlanta’s opponents gained one point playing at Philips Arena.  Only Los Angeles at -0.35 and Chicago at -0.30 had negative home field advantages.

Two Ends Meet: How Seattle and Atlanta Got This Far – Clay Kallam, Slamonline.com

The Storm were 22-2 on July 30, and then lost interest in the project. Brian Agler, deservedly Coach of the Year, rested his key players and set things up for the postseason – which worked pretty well, as Seattle swept both Los Angeles and Phoenix en route to the Finals.

In fact, the statistical profile of the Storm for its four-game playoff run is eerily similar to what it was at the end of that 22-2 start. The average margin of victory is almost exactly the same, and so is the excellent defensive field-goal percentage. What really jumps out, though, is rebounding: Seattle gets about seven more rebounds a game than its opponents.

The latest Storm player on Northwest Sports Tonight was post Le’coe Willingham.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 10th, 2010 at 1:00 pm and is filed under 2010 Playoffs, in the media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.